Sent to jail for Facebook message

05/10/2007

A man who inadvertently emailed his estranged wife when he joined Facebook has been imprisoned for breaching a no-contact court order. The Daily Telegraph reports that 37-year-old Dylan Osborn joined the site to look at a friend’s wedding photos – but as part of the signup process, everyone in his address book was invited to join the site.

Unfortunately for Osborn that included his wife Claire Tarbox, who he was banned from contacting after he admitted harassing her with telephone calls and text messages following their breakup three years ago. He was arrested the following day for breaching his bail conditions and sentenced to ten days in jail – shortened to seven after a plea from his solicitor.

Osborn maintained throughout that he’d been confused by the Facebook signup procedure, and added, “to be honest, I don’t think the judge understood how it works either”. Which, let’s face it, is a pretty fair bet.